At Biocatalysts, we pride ourselves on being able to effectively bridge the gap between enzyme ideas and commercial enzyme reality. As I became familiar with the way it worked, the model seemed logical, safe, affordable, and still commercial. As such, I became excited to understand more about the competition to work out what our unique selling points were. What I discovered, however, was that we couldn’t find any other commercial operators in North America in the same space as us… My first reaction, of course, was to assume we just didn’t know enough, so I started speaking to clients, industry experts, and new potential customers. How is it possible that nobody else is able to offer the full circle of genomics, bioinformatics and molecular biology,along with fermentation, downstream processing, and regulatory expertise?

As it happens, it’s because you need a complex mix of talent from multiple disciplines, and time for each to grow together. That’s a function of the way Biocatalysts has grown over the last few decades, and not something you can just get out of the box. Add to that the fact that we have our own purpose-built enzyme production plant and industrial-scale fermentation capacity, and you start to see where Biocatalysts really differentiates itself.

To explain this, anyone who’s ever had to walk an enzyme through concept to production will know how long (and expensive) the process can be, and there are further risks involved in transferring a promising candidate from shake flasks all the way to full-scale industrial fermentations: dealing with slow CROs, aggressive CMOs, and tackling the inevitable scale-up problems as they’re identified with no guarantee of success. Because Biocatalysts have brought all of this in-house we can identify end costs, scale-up challenges, and product spec beforewe even step near a fermenter. In short, when I speak to my clients about project ideas, they know that we can get PhD scientists in the same room as seasoned fermentation specialists and regulatory experts to plan the entirety of the steps needed to get them their product.

In short, it’s our ability to manufacture and supply product (and not just develop it) that makes all the difference.

So why not give it a go? Our team produces project proposals free of charge…